Karl Hood, Grenada's Minister of Foreign Affairs and chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), responded to a question from veteran ABC correspondent Bill Blakemore about the fact that climate scientists believe it is impossible to keep global warming below 1.5C above pre-industrial levels: “If they're saying that 1.5 isn't possible, are you asking us then to accept annihilation?”

The frustration felt by delegates from AOSIS, the Least Developed Countries (LDC), and others - especially the YOUNGO youth delegates whose future is imperiled by inaction - is coming to a head in the final hours of COP17 in Durban.

Earlier today, six members of the Canadian Youth Delegation had their credentials stripped after they stood up and turned their backs during Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent's speech. Watch this clip, courtesy of Democracy NOW!:

The Canadian youth protest came on the heels of an even stronger rebuke yesterday by 21-year-old Middlebury College junior, Abigail Borah, who stood up as U.S. negotiator Todd Stern took the stage to address the delegates. Borah gave him a piece of her mind on behalf of American youth.

Scores of delegates and observers gave her a sustained ovation. Then the South African authorities threw her out of the conference. Mr. Stern smiled as if the applause were for him and then continued with his prepared remarks.

With just one day to go - and nothing close to a legally-binding agreement in sight - hopes are fading once again for meaningful action to address climate change. It seems the “most powerful” nations on the planet are in fact the biggest cowards when it comes to tackling the most urgent challenge of our times.

Previous Comments

I don’t understand it. We’ve not had 1 full degree of warming since pre-industrial times and we need to worry about waiting until 2020 (9 years) to see if there is any reason at all to support a new treaty on carbon reduction? Do these people think the climate is going to suddenly take off or something?

The soon to vanish under the blue waves nations of the aosis need help. They need your money now… so they can build dykes.

They also need to be told what dykes are.

Member nations like the Bahamas know all about building large resort hotels on the beach but they don’t seem to know about dykes. That’s really unfortunate.

Here’s an idea. We should require every vacationer visiting those resorts to bring with him a shovel or at least a sandbag in order to contribute to dyke building and we should also send some kind of dyke building information.

Sometimes wonder if they really beleive these dramatics. The youth I can understand as they are neccesarily naive but the representative for some island, come on. One good thing about the internet is that it captures all of these misstatements so years later we can all have a good laugh.

Democracy is utterly dependent upon an electorate that is accurately informed. In promoting climate change denial (and often denying their responsibility for doing so) industry has done more than endanger the environment. It has undermined democracy.

There is a vast difference between putting forth a point of view, honestly held, and intentionally sowing the seeds of confusion. Free speech does not include the right to deceive. Deception is not a point of view. And the right to disagree does not include a right to intentionally subvert the public awareness.

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